Drop Ship News

Time Wasters You Can’t Afford in a Home Business

No boss, no daily commute, no bank-breaking trips to the gas pumps, no special office wardrobe, freedom……ahhhhh....

It’s great!

But, there are potential problems to working from home that have been the downfall of many an aspiring entrepreneur! One of those problems is wasting too much time doing piddly, nonproductive things instead of what you should be doing in order to maximize your time spent in the home office.

These time wasters can sneak up on you. They can gradually morph from an occasional lapse into a bad habit that is hard to break.

Here are some common Time Wasters to avoid:

Down the Rabbit Hole: We’ve probably all done it. We start to research something, and wind up like Alice in Wonderland---down the rabbit hole, lost for way too long in the NeverNever Land of the World Wide Web. One search leads to another, and then another….and you become so engrossed in whatever it is you were researching that before you know it, you have wasted an incredible amount of time on what should have been a simple bit of research.

The Bermuda Triangle of Phone Calls: Here, too, is where many entrepreneurs come to grief. The telephone call that stretches on and on, eating up valuable work time. The scenario is usually the same for all of us, with minor variations. We’re working….the phone rings…we decide to peek at Caller ID and then, seeing it’s someone we really do want to talk to just for a teeny tiny minute…we answer it. Next thing we know, that teeny minute has extended to half the morning or afternoon.

The List That Never Ends: Making lists is fine. In fact, list making is a good thing if it’s done in moderation. The problem for many of us, though, is that when we sit down to make a list, we go overboard. We start writing down Things to Do that really don’t require writing down. For example, if you take out your home office trash every Monday morning, regular as clockwork and have never once forgotten it in umpteen years---how likely are you to forget it? Do you really need to add “take out the trash” to your list? It’s fairly easy to get carried away making lists of things to do. The problem comes in when we waste so much time writing down what to do that we don’t get anything done. So, keep your list making to a bare bones chore.

There is an effective and very simple way to help cut down on these and other Time Wasters: set a timer.

Buy an inexpensive timer if you don’t already have one. When you get on the phone, or start that bit of research, or begin making a list that could go on for pages and pages if you aren’t careful…set the timer for the amount of time necessary to complete that task.

When the timer goes off---time’s up. STOP!

Pare down your personal Time Wasters to make your home business more successful and efficient!

Comments

I am glad you posted these time wasters for who among homebusiness owners have not been guilty of wasting time? So it is great that not only have you put this out in the open but also you suggested a recommendation that could work! I know I am going to try it. Evelyn Guzman http://www.homebusinesssteps.com (If you want to visit, just click but if it doesn’t work, copy and paste it onto your browser.)